West Plains runs past Bulldogs, Crusaders

The Notre Dame boys cross country team finally got the Class 3 test it had been seeking Saturday, squaring off against powerhouse West Plains at the Notre Dame Invitational.

The Bulldogs, defending Class 2 state champions, had been undefeated this season, bringing home four team titles.

West Plains, Class 3 runner-up last year and winner of 12 state titles, put an end to Notre Dame's streak on Saturday, despite six of Notre Dame's top seven runners running personal bests. The Zizzers finished with 37 points, just ahead of the host Bulldogs with 46.

"When you run six of your top seven with best times ever, you can't complain," Notre Dame coach Bill Davis said. "This will be a good stepping stone for Potosi next week."

Notre Dame will travel to the Potosi Invitational next Saturday. Potosi is the defending Class 3 state champions and a new Class 3 district foe for Notre Dame.

Phillip Palomino, a West Plains sophomore, won the boys race in a meet- and course-record 16 minutes, 10.8 seconds. Notre Dame sophomores Dillon Klaffer and Logan Davis finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Neil Kanneberg finished seventh for the Bulldogs. All three runners beat the previous school record.

While the Bulldogs had better finishes out of their Nos. 2 and 3 runners, West Plains' depth showed. Behind Palomino, the Zizzers placed ninth, 10th, 13th, 14th, 17th and 18th.

Jon Ramsey finished 19th as Notre Dame's fourth runner, and Ben Beussink was 23rd to round out the scoring.

West Plains was a late entry to the Notre Dame Invitational, making the trip on an off weekend due to the postponement of last week's Hancock Invitational.

Davis said he received plenty of compliments from the West Plains coaches on the meet, and the level of competition they received.

"That says a lot for what we have, and the kids are the reason for what we have," he said. "But we're not finished. We have a lot of work to do and some big steps to take, and we relish the opportunity."

Saxony Lutheran, the defending Class 1 state champion, finished third with 87 points. Brandon Etzold topped the Crusaders in eighth, Peter Winningham finished 16th, and Max Wieser was 20th.

"You could look at the places and say this wasn't a good meet [for us], but we had kids run phenomenal times," Saxony coach Larry Cleair said. "With West Plains here, it was like lightning.

"We have some different personnel, but I compared what we did this year compared to last year at this same meet and we're so much further along."

Montana Giesler of Perryville finished sixth to lead the Pirates.

In the girls race, defending Class 3 state champion Brittani Johnson led the Zizzers to an easy victory by annihilating the field with a course- and meet-record time of 18:31.5.

West Plains had six runners finish in the top nine and finished with 23 points. St. Charles West came in second with 70.

Notre Dame sophomore Tori Pfau led the Bulldogs in sixth, and teammate Jessica Banda was 10th.

Kendra Schilli of Perryville was 13th, just ahead of Kelly's Tara Johnson in 14th.

In the junior varsity boys race, Notre Dame defeated West Plains in the tiebreaker to remain undefeated. Notre Dame had all seven runners in the top 13, with sixth-place runner David Willems finishing ahead of West Plains' sixth runner for the win.

"It was a great experience all the way around," Davis said. "I'm hoping they [West Plains] come back."

Boys

Team standings -- 1, West Plains 37; 2, Notre Dame 46; 3, Saxony Lutheran 87; 4, Poplar Bluff 143; 5, Oak Ridge 152.

Notre Dame -- 4, Dillon Klaffer 16:30.5; 5. Logan Davis 16:32.4; 7, Neil Kanneberg 16:43.2; 19, Jon Ramsey 17:39.9; 23, Ben Beussink 18:03.

Saxony Lutheran -- 8, Brandon Etzold 16:46.1; 16, Peter Winningham 17:24.9; 20, Max Wieser 17:42.3; 31, Bryant Steffens 18:38.7; 32, Ross Gage 18:40.

Perryville -- 6, Montana Giesler 16:37.1; 12, William Benline 17:11.9; 34, Ken Stephenson 18:45.7.

Kelly -- 21, Josh Rogers 17:48.3; 22. Cody Kern 17:49.9.

Oak Ridge -- 26, Garrett Light 18:14.2; 27, Dustin Owens 18:19.2; 35, Caleb Schoen 18:56.3; 42, Walter Ruesler 19:38.4; 57, Kaz Lange 20:59.8.

Advance -- 28, Nate Middleton 18:30.9.

Woodland -- 36, Ben Rhodes 18:57.1; 37, Filippo Manca 19:00.8; 40, Timmy Abner 19:21.5; 49, Tyler VanGennip 20:24.3; 54, Dalton Toombs 20:53.5.

Girls

Team standings -- 1, West Plains 23; 2, St. Charles West 70; 3, De Soto 76; 4, Dexter 99; 5, Notre Dame 99.

Notre Dame -- 6, Tori Pfau 20:30.8; 10, Jessica Banda 21:01.6; 32, Emily Messmer 22:55.2; 37. Jessica Brandon 23:31.8; 38, Lauren Castleman 23:37.1

Perryville -- 13, Kendra Schilli 21:18.5; 18, Emily Westmoreland 21:42.6

Kelly -- 14, Tara Johnson 21:19.7

Saxony Lutheran -- 30, Deanna Dippold 22:43.8

Woodland -- 31, Nicole Bazler 22:47.9; 43. Kayla Setters 24:09.3; 55, Terra Eldridge 28:22.2; 57, Ashley Hahn 30:29.7.